The present invention relates to computer-implemented systems and methods for querying two or more tables associated with two or more different data sources. More specifically, the invention relates to systems and methods for joining two or more tables associated with two or more different data sources.
Typically, a user submits a query to retrieve data from a data source. Queries may be formatted in a variety of languages such as the SQL (Structured Query Language). Data that is queried is often stored in what is referred to as a “table.”
A query is often used to retrieve data from a single table. In many circumstances, it may also be desirable to retrieve data from multiple data sources (e.g., tables). This may be accomplished by separately querying each of the data sources. However, the user may wish to retrieve the results of the query in the form of a single result set (e.g., table).
A join is a query that combines rows from two or more tables. It is possible to join two or more tables from the same data source together, resulting in a result set (e.g., table) representing the results of the query.
In view of the above, it would be beneficial if multiple tables from different data sources could be joined in an effective and efficient manner.